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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “highlight text”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “highlight text”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Highlight Sitewide Notice, Text, Button Menu shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Highlight Search Terms 6K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Highlight and Share – Unobtrusive and Lightweight Content Sharing 700+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #4 5 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #20 13 too low 8 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 LiveChat – Live Chat Plugin for WP Websites 10K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10 String locator 100K+ · 4.6★ (125) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too low 11 Custom Highlight Color 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin 3K+ · 4.8★ (178) wp.org #23 ↓5 11 too low 13 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Change Text Case 1K+ · 4.8★ (21) wp.org #18 ↓3 4 too low 15 Text to Speech – Reinvent WP 40+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #21 ↓1 6 too low 16 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #9 ↓1 7 too high 17 Special Text Boxes 1K+ · 3.4★ (21) wp.org #15 ↓2 2 too high 18 Text Case Converter 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 Awesome Guten Text – 8 Powerful Blocks for Gutenberg 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 Rich Text Formats 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 too low 21 CC-Syntax-Highlight 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓2 8 too high 22 LMSCrafter Gradient Text for Elementor 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too high 23 Highlight Sitewide Notice, Text, Button Menu 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓2 9 too high 24 RobArt Text Collector 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓1

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.